Chapter 21: And Then There Were Eight

Sena looked in the same direction as Lindy. Using her Valkyrie eyesight she could discern three figures on the skyline. One was a bit closer, while the other two were farther out. All three were approaching rapidly. "Halval! Cast darkness around us! Do it now!"

Halval remained motionless.

"Halval, hurry!"

The Dark Lady ignored Sena. Instead she turned toward Lindy and made a respectful bow. Then she said, "My lady, that was a magnificent performance."

Lindy made a small smile, "Thank you."

Sena was in shock. "Halval! What is this..? I command you! Create darkness immediately! Obey my order!"

Lindy said, "You understand?"

Halval continued to ignore Sena as she faced her Daimakaicho. "Yes. Thank you for the promotion, Daimakaicho Lindy-sama."

Halval made a small motion. In response Thrymr crossed her enormous arms, then she discretely took a step back.

Lindy then turned to Thoriko's husband. "Keld, please force-cage our little lunatic if you don't mind."

Keld quickly put his arms in a marksman stance, and before Sena could react she was surrounded by a glowing cube of energy.

Sena tried to blast her way out of her newfound prison. The cage held. Sena was apoplectic, "But.. but I am first class! Keld is only second!"

Lindy made a sigh. "You make this too easy."

Sena was getting panicky, "What just happened? What's going on?"

Lindy ignored her. Instead she placed her hand on Halval's shoulder and gently rotated her to face the others. "Everyone, my I have your attention please? I have an important announcement to make. It is with great pleasure that I can now introduce to you Niflheim's newest first-class demon: Halval." The gothic woman's blind eyes glittered with pride.

Lindy finally turned to Sena. "You see, dear Sena, while you and I were having our little chit-chat together I promoted Halval to first-class status. That's in the job description of the Daimakaicho, by the way. I did the same thing to Dorlaz. And I'm still technically the Daimakaicho of Niflheim, or did you forget that?"

Halval moved to stand in front of Lindy, turned, and made a deep and respectful bow towards the Daimakaicho. Then she spoke to her with reverence, "My great lady, I am so pleased to be given the opportunity observe your performance. That was such a magnificent display of deception and cunning. Truly, you are the worthy successor of the great Hild-sama."

Lindy accepted the flattery graciously, "Why, thank you again, my dear Halval."

Halval went on. Her face was earnest. "My lady, if you would allow me to try to persuade you to rejoin our side, to become the true Daimakaicho that I know you were destined to be, then I will gladly follow your orders unquestioningly for the next decade. I will do so even if you decline."

Lindy nodded, "Deal. But only if you give me a chance to persuade you as well."

Halval smiled, "But of course, my mistress. I look forward to it. I long to directly experience your skills of persuasion first-hand. I believe I will enjoy our conversations greatly."

"As will I."

Sena was getting upset at being ignored. She blasted her cage again to no avail. Meanwhile, the first figure landed and joined the group. It was Chrono. "Sorry I was late; I was in the infirmary. I heard the telepathic transmissions so I thought I'd better get over here as quick as I could."

Sena protested, "What? Chrono's dead! I overheard your mental conversation during the battle! She died from a mortar hit!"

Chrono gave her an annoyed look, "Do I look dead?"

Lindy said, "That was intentional. We never transmitted anything after we saved her."

Chrono shook her head as she looked at the former Valkyrie. "How did I ever get conned into recruiting such a complete loser?"

Lindy shrugged, "It happens sometimes. You get a bad apple now and then." Then she gave the Air Marshal a look of concern, "Chrono, you really ought to be in the infirmary. Losing a limb is no small thing."

Chrono waved the stump of her left arm. "What, this? It's just a flesh wound. I'm a combat Valkyrie. I hardly noticed it."

Lindy smiled at her bravado. "Well, as soon as we're done here I want you and Keld to both go back to the infirmary." Then she turned back to Sena. "In case you are having trouble keeping count, you are now facing three L1s."

Sena gave her a black look and said nothing.

Then Lindy checked Keld, "Is the cage holding okay?"

He was grinning. "No problem."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I say three? I meant four."

Sena protested, "Impossible, he's second class!"

The two new figures landed beside the rest of the group. Lindy noted the new arrivals with satisfaction. Then she turned back to her ersatz lover and said, "Keld, please enlighten our little Nietzsche wanna-be, will you?"

Keld bowed to the Daimakaicho, "With pleasure, my dear sister-in-law." He turned to face his prisoner. "Sena, you know that Lindy's main power is the ability to transfer energy from herself to others. The whole purpose of our little charade was to allow me to get close enough to Lindy to physically touch her. When I did that she transferred enough energy into me to temporarily become first class."

Lindy looked at the demon with the bandaged head, "Keld, you were supposed to kiss me..." She then batted her lovely eyelashes at him in mock flirtation. Keld's reaction was one of incredulity and annoyance. She then placed her hand over her heart in an exaggerated display of affection. "I mean, really now, it would have sold the deception much better..."

Meanwhile, Keld noticed that Thoriko was glaring at both of them from behind the mirror. Lindy was clearly enjoying tweaking her sister.

Keld sighed, "Very funny. But I'd rather not die at the hands of an angry goddess whose primary attributes are wrath, lightning, and a great big freaking hammer."

Lindy shrugged, "Hmm. You might have a point."

Then there was a muffled 'whump' sound. Everybody turned.

It was coming from behind the mirror. On the other side of the glass Thoriko was wielding Mjölnir. There was a small crack in the mirror. She did another roundhouse strike against the glass and the crack grew slightly. Then the great hammer struck the same spot again. The crack split and grew like a spider web. On the fifth strike the glass exploded outward in a shower of crystal particles.

The niece of Thor staggered out, panting heavily. "Lindy, I saw your hand sign when you got grabbed so I waited like you wanted. But I've had enough! Now, will someone please tell me what in the name of Tarsus is going on here!?"

Lindy smiled at her prisoner, "And that, dear Sena, makes seven."

Then she looked at the rest of the group and said, "Oh, I am so sorry. I forgot to make some introductions. Please excuse my bad manners." She gestured at a slender girl who was wearing a long heavy black skirt with a white frock and a black pillbox hat. Her hair was dark purple, long, and flowing, and she had beautiful ruby colored eyes. Standing next to her was a tall quiet man who seemed to have an enormous reservoir of serenity and strength. Lindy said, "Please, allow me to introduce to you Yuko Amamiya. She is an angel first class and the former head of the new Goddess Help Line. And the distinguished gentleman standing next to her is Nigihayami Kohakunushi, also known as Haku. He is also an angel first class, formerly on detached duty on Earth."

The pair bowed. Then the tall man spoke in a soft monotone. It was almost a whisper. "My name is now Yuuki Nagato." The girl then said, "And my name is now Yuko Himura."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I stand corrected."

Thoriko scratched her head, "How did those two get here? They were both on Earth assignment."

The tall man stepped forward and spoke quietly again. "We ourselves are not sure of what happened. All we know is that we were somehow sent back here."

"But how?"

"We do not know. All the gates on Earth had disappeared. I tried to contact Asgard for instructions, but I found that all the phone lines were down. It seemed as if all contact was cut off. I tried to investigate the mystery, then I suddenly found myself standing in a strange cold location. After some exploration I determined that I was somehow teleported to the far northern limb of Asgard, deep in the land of the Frost Giants. It was there that I met with Himura-san. She had also been sent back. The Frost Giants had captured her and were holding her prisoner. I helped free her."

Yuko Himura bowed, "It was an unfortunate misunderstanding, I assure you."

He looked at her and nodded in agreement. "Then the two of us, being the only first-class angels operating on Earth at the time, decided that we should join together and travel back here to report to the Daitenkaicho for further instructions."

Then the girl spoke again, "On the way here we were attacked. It happened less than an hour ago. We were both.. disintegrated.. it was very distressing. But Nagato-san explained what was happening and he reassured me that everything would be all right."

The tall man again spoke quietly, "That is because, like Lindy and Thoriko, I too have high-level air elemental powers. I am not so high as to be able to do wind-shifts, but I was able to recognize that a wind-shift was being used against us. And then, after we were re-integrated, I decided to find the source of the wind-shifts, and so we came here. I trust we did the right thing?"

Lindy smiled, "Yes, you did."

Sena scowled, "That's seven. You said eight.."

Just then Skuld re-appeared.

".. sigh. Nevermind."

Lindy and Thoriko whooped for joy. The two girls then gang-tackled the Daitenkaicho. "Mother! Father!" In their enthusiasm the trio toppled over into the mud.

Skuld pleaded, "Ouch, careful! Your father and I have a huge headache..."

{ Keiichi: You promised me aspirin.. oy.. }

Lindy hugged her parents again, "I knew you'd figure out a solution to stop Hrungnir's little nasties from killing you."

Skuld sat up. "Yep. It was a real micro-engineering challenge. I haven't had that much fun in decades. Still, I couldn't have done it without your father. You need to thank him for saving me from becoming a fricassee de cerveau."

{ Keiichi: Aw, it was just a bug-hunt. I had fun too. }

Then Skuld looked around at the large group. "Wow, you two really called in the reserves on this one."

Thoriko said, "You need to thank Lindy for that."

"Ah, I see." She looked at her fairer daughter. "Lindy, you stopped Sena. Very well done." Then she looked around again. "But you called in every L1 there is. Why all this heavy firepower? Just to stop Sena? I'm sorry, but this seems like massive overkill. All you had to do was buy time until Keiichi and I returned. I could have taken care of her myself."

"Yes, Mother, I admit it was excessive. But I did for a very explicit purpose."

"Oh?" Her mother waited for the explanation.

"I did it as an demonstration exercise. For Sena."

Skuld stood up and started wiping the mud off herself. "Ah. Please carry on."

"Thank you." Lindy turned back to face her prisoner. "Sena, your philosophy is 'no rules': Might makes right, survival of the fittest, all that stuff, yes?"

"Bah. You were just stronger that me, that's all."

"No! I am not. I'm the weakest L1 here. But as you can see I have the loyalty of every L1 on the disc, all of them against you. Why do you think that is?"

Sena said nothing.

Lindy continued, "I'll answer the question for you. It is simple. The problem, my dear Sena, is that when you have no rules.."

Sena scowled.

".. then nobody trusts you."

Lindy crossed her arms in front of the imprisoned goddess. "Let me explain. You see, here in Asgard we operate under the rule of law. And we honor our contracts and agreements. On both sides. We have to. Otherwise everything falls apart. Rules are necessary for a society to function. Every highly successful society in Earth's history - from ancient Greece and Rome, up to modern Europe, North America, and the Pacific Rim - has at its core the fair and equal enforcement of its laws and the honoring of its contracts and agreements.

"The actual form of government doesn't matter much. Why do you think Russia is such an economic basket case while Singapore is so successful? Both are essentially authoritarian dictatorships. The difference is that one is a kleptocracy that uses selective enforcement of punitive laws to attack political enemies, that tears up business contracts, while the other is a society that upholds the law and honors its contracts and agreements. For example, Russia forced Gazprom to stop delivering natural gas and oil to Europe as a political weapon, so now Europe is scrambling to find other sources.

"When a country starts to selectively enforce laws for political ends, when it cannot be trusted to honor agreements, it poisons everything. This is why the United States was so successful during its first two centuries and why it is now starting to flounder. Did you know that the average US citizen now unwittingly violates at least three federal laws a day? A US federal prosecutor can indict you for anything if he wants. There are too many laws, selectively enforced, if they are enforced at all. The law becomes a weapon against political opponents. And when contracts get torn up or rewritten by the government? Then everything begins to fail. People start hoarding wealth instead of trying to create it. If everything boils down to favoritism and which politicians you can bribe or buy, when the politicians buy votes by forcibly redistributing wealth from the makers to the takers, then the makers simply stop making. Or they give up and become takers themselves. Then you have just another banana republic.

"You see, here in Asgard we follow the law. We honor our contracts and agreements. That is why you now see eight first class goddesses and demons standing together. Against you. Sure, we have our disagreements with each other. But we can still do business together. Trust is everything, don't you see? Lose that trust and it all falls apart. Society becomes a free-for-all of corruption and thievery, where everybody hides inside of walled compounds or lives in shantytowns and tin shacks. And sadly most of the human race on Earth lives in this state."

Sena sneered, "So, you think you and your friends have won? All because of your insufferable 'rules' that you force everyone to live by?"

"Yes. When you don't follow the rules, then nobody will play with you. That is why the eight of us are standing out here while you are in a cage."

"According do you I'm just a 'bad apple.'"

"Sadly, yes. And we will need to deal with you. I will talk to Thoriko and Mother about that. Perhaps you can just be sealed."

Skuld frowned and said, "Lindy, there's no question here. She has violated just about every law we have and caused several deaths. And she's unrepentant. We can't seal her. That only kicks the can down the road. Eventually someone or something will break the seal. And when that happens she'll be at it again."

Lindy knew it was Keiichi speaking because of the plural pronoun. That meant no veto. Sena was doomed. Lindy had a sad look. "Yes, you are probably right."

The Daitenkaicho returned her sad look with one of her own. "This is a capital crime, and she remains a threat. I can't take away her first-class powers because she has had them for too long and they have incubated." That was Skuld speaking. "Those powers are permanent now. I am sorry, but I can't give her leniency. She's too dangerous. The threat to Asgard is too great."

Lindy pleaded, "Please, Mother, let me try to find another solution."

"I don't see any other option. You think you have one?"

She hesitated. "I'm not sure yet. I need to think about it."

The red-haired goddess looked at them with contempt. "You are all so piteously wretched and weak. My punishment won't happen anyway."

Thoriko growled, "Sena, shut up. I've had it with your Evil Overlord act." She turned to Skuld and said, "Mother, give me the word and she's charcoal."

Skuld was just about to respond when Sena interjected, "You're forgetting something." She had a sly smile.

Just then, Lindy, Thoriko, Chrono, and Skuld all simultaneously detected a mental transmission. It was non-verbal.

The transmission came from Sena.

Thoriko was alarmed, "What was that? What did she just send?"

Chorno frowned, "Not sure. My guess is that she just sent a pre-arranged signal through the open gate to her remaining allies in Niflheim."

Sena's eyes flared in defiance. "You see, it only takes one bad apple..."

Skuld narrowed her eyes. "That was a military attack code. Used by demons."

"... to ruin the whole barrel."

There was an low-frequency rumble, almost below the level of audibility.

Halval glared at her former master. "How could you do that! Do you not know that you've just doomed yourself as well?"

Chrono looked up. "It's coming from inside the gate."

Thoriko jumped up. "We need to close it, fast!"

The rumble grew. Then there was a monstrous gutteral roar, more massive than any sound that any being in Asgard had heard since Ragnarök.

Skuld stood. "No, do not close the gate. It will just force its way through anyway and destroy the portal."

Lindy approached Sena's cage, her face changing from light-hearted joviality back to one of menace and disdain. "Sena, you are pathetic."

Sena made a nasty smile. "Like you said, it just takes one bad apple."

"If you can't win then nobody else does either, eh?"

Chrono frowned, "This is a major treaty violation. It stays in its cage, never comes out."

Lindy was still staring down Sena, "As if that matters to someone like her. She operates with no rules whatsoever with a weapon of mass destruction in her hands. This is why you never let lawless countries like Iran or North Korea have nukes. In their hands such a weapon will get used sooner or later. It's inevitable."

Sena's eyes were on fire. "And I have just used mine."

Thoriko approached the Daitenkaicho. "Mother, what do we do? We're all here. Perhaps a joint counter-attack by all of us?"

Thrymr said, "Count me out."

Skuld shook her head. She knew it was immune to all forms of magic, even that of The Destroyer.

"No. You can't stop it, ..."

She took a step towards the gate, which was plainly visible on the darkening horizon as it floated one kilometer above the surface. A red glow began to appear within it, growing in intensity.

"... because nobody can."

The great beast was approaching. It was a terrible monster of unlimited destructive power. One that could vary in size, growing up to 100km in length.

It had caused untold death and destruction during Ragnarök, more than all the other attackers combined.

Unstoppable. Indestructible.

Fenrir.

A/N:

There are actually ten L1s in this story. The other two are Takano and Gan. I didn't include them in Lindy's get-together because they are both Earth spirits that are bound to that world.